__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

Yep. I have a touchscreen at the helm which is wired up as a monitor repeater and mouse to the laptop at the chart table. I bought the 11" monitor on ebay for about $200 and took it out of its plastic case. I sealed into a case I made from aluminium 'c' section and a bit of plate for the back. I just sealed the edges of the screen to the aluminium section. It connects to the laptop with a video and USB extension lead and a 12v power lead. Its been through some pretty tough weather and works pretty well. Certainly better than spending the thousands needed for the dedicated units.
cheers
JMB

I wanted a laptop in my cockpit, but I was afraid that it would fall off the cockpit table and break. There was only one thing I could do to solve this problem. I went out and purchased a catamaran to put under the printer so that it would not slide off the cockpit table. Although it worked really well, it's a very expensive way to safely mount the laptop in the cockpit.

We had two Toughbooks on board (one spare) always below unless taken to shore for internet access.The key board failed on the primary one....seemed a result of salt.But it did last 1 year on board and 4 years on shore.

We started 9 years ago with a standard, non-ruggedised Toshiba laptop which sat up in the (centre) cockpit on a piece of non-skid mat, between the companionway and a winch. It lasted 6 years before the display died. Its replacement has only lasted 2 years, now in for a new motherboard. Hard to say whats best, but the way performance/price ratios keep changing dramatically, buy cheap and throw it away.
paulr

I wanted a laptop in my cockpit, but I was afraid that it would fall off the cockpit table and break. There was only one thing I could do to solve this problem. I went out and purchased a catamaran to put under the printer so that it would not slide off the cockpit table. Although it worked really well, it's a very expensive way to safely mount the laptop in the cockpit.

Since you already had the laptop, you might just have purchased a sailing simulation and dispensed with the boat altogether.

Yep. I have a touchscreen at the helm which is wired up as a monitor repeater and mouse to the laptop at the chart table. I bought the 11" monitor on ebay for about $200 and took it out of its plastic case. I sealed into a case I made from aluminium 'c' section and a bit of plate for the back. I just sealed the edges of the screen to the aluminium section. It connects to the laptop with a video and USB extension lead and a 12v power lead. Its been through some pretty tough weather and works pretty well. Certainly better than spending the thousands needed for the dedicated units.
cheers
JMB

Hi JMB,

Can you tell me what kind of monitor you bought? I have looked at quite a few but the $200 ones were not bright enough to see in the sunlight and the really bright ones I found started at USD$1500 and went up from there.

Skip

__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.

SNeuman, I note that your description now lists you as a "senior cruiser"...funny, you dont look that old! Hey, have you seen these? Mimo Monitors - Welcome I dont own one, and dont know how well they read in sunlight, but they work with only one USB connection...

Can you tell me what kind of monitor you bought? I have looked at quite a few but the $200 ones were not bright enough to see in the sunlight and the really bright ones I found started at USD$1500 and went up from there.

Skip,
yeah its not brilliant in direct sunlight, but it is viewable if you shade it with your hand. The really bright ones probably suck quite a bit of power, and are more expensive. I was going to put a sun shade on it but, actually the brightness is less of a problem than I first thought it would be. You can't see the image at all with sunglasses on.
I can't recall the exact brand, it was one of those generic Chinese ones.
cheers
James